Mad dogs and Golden Girls

Sunday 20th December 2009
I did get a bit lost coming back, around Marina del Rey. But the only danger was of being mugged by the Golden Girls.

The Venice canals area is beautiful, like a picture post card where the water actually moves and the people say hi as you pass by. Every house is different as well. There is less uniformity, perhaps because they are all much newer compared to our housing, and not built by Barratts.

But any negatives? Well this one guy tried to get aggressive with me because I would not listen to his CD which he was hawking. It was jazz he assured me not rap, which would make him the most threatening jazz musician I have come across. You just walk on by.

Also you get used to how a city is laid out, with houses lining every street and road, small shops at convnient distances and not great swathes of empty road. They plan cities differently here.

In the evening I found the main shopping area in Santa Monica. There is street entertainment as you shop and eat: slasa dancers, jazz musicians (of a less aggressive temperament), dogs skateboarding and someone singing the most mournful version of Christmas Carols you have heard (when he moved on to Lionel Richie "Say You, Say Me" I knew it was time to go).

Despite the warmth and general lack of all things winter-wonderland in Lalaland, it is interesting how much of their Christmas decorations centre around snow, reindeer and cheery Father Christmas wrapped up against the the cold.